


Change in the Weather

by mrssnape



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: Dark, F/M, Lemon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-08
Updated: 2015-02-08
Packaged: 2018-03-11 01:05:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3310130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrssnape/pseuds/mrssnape
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aria has to stay away from Ezra to protect him, as much as it kills her. A is still after her, and without Ezra to help her, who will? Will love prevail over this strong force of evil or are they destined for unhappiness? Rated M for darkness and lemons!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Change in the Weather

**Author notes:** I've always wanted to write something for Aria/Ezra so I thought to give it a try. The timeline is loosely around the beginning of season four, when Aria tells Ezra she wants to see other people. This was originally supposed to be a one scene deal, but now I'm thinking about turning it into something more. I always love reading your guys' feedback, so please leave a review if you feel so inclined!

 **Disclaimer:** As gorgeous as these two are, sadly I do not own them. Also, there is some lemony goodness in this story, so I hope you're not offended. ;)

* * *

_I do want to see other people._

Aria's thumb trembled over the 'send' button a second longer and she finally pressed down. She felt the weight of regret sit in her stomach but she swallowed it back and squared her shoulders. The pain of visioning Ezra in those handcuffs was worse than being apart from him. He was one of the most precious things in her life and she needed to protect him the only way she knew how.

She stuffed her phone into her bag and hurried down the hall toward the front double doors. Her heels clicked so loud against the linoleum, she was surprised no one called after her. She needed to get out of that school - needed to get far from from Ezra who was only two classrooms away. Tears filled her eyes and blurred her vision.

Somehow, one of her notebook slipped free from her arms and papers scattered to the floor. She sighed and closed her eyes. _Get it together Aria. You can do this._ She knelt down to gather them up and rose to her feet. Something caught the corner of her vision and she turned her head to see.

Ezra stood in front of the class with a book in his hands, giving one of his passionate lectures Aria knew so well. His head turned and he stopped speaking mid-sentence. He knew Aria well, and something was wrong. He instinctively look a step forward but knew he couldn't go any further without looking suspicious to his students.

Aria's eyes met his and she tried not to burst into another round of tears. Every memory, every smile, every slow kiss came rushing back to her heart. She took a sharp breath in and continued her stride to the double doors. Aria pushed through them and fresh air surrounded her. Instantly she felt herself calm and the claustrophobic feeling was slowly lifting.

Aria walked through the parking lot and unlocked her rusty orange AMC Pacer and got in, smelling the old scent and relaxed a bit more. Even though her friends and most people at school made fun of it, Aria loved her car. She thought it suited her perfectly and when she drove it, she felt at peace.

Just when she felt like she could catch her breath, there was a hard knock against the window. Aria jumped and felt her nerves seize up all over again. She turned and rolled down the window when she saw who it was.

"Mike! Jesus, you scared the crap out of me."

For once, he wasn't amused at his sister's reaction. "What happened? You ran out of the school like you'd just seen a ghost."

"Oh, um, something came up and I need to take care of it. I'll see you later." Aria went to roll up the window but Mike's grip tightened against the open door.

"How about the truth?"

'Look, I really don't have time to talk about this right now Mike. We can talk at home - I think Mom made that vegetarian lasagna you like before she left." Aria dug her keys out of her purse and started the car before Mike had time to protest. She offered her brother a smile of reassurance and backed out of her parking space.

She had no clue what she was going to do or where she was even headed. She sighed when she saw her gas arrow pointing at _E_. Aria mentally cursed herself; she knew she should've gotten gas yesterday morning before school. She pulled into the gas station and swiped her card at the pump.

_Declined._

Aria frowned and cancelled the transaction, then swiped the card again. Once more the machine read _declined._ She looked around the station, in confusion. Aria shook her head to clear her mind and climbed into her car.

 _Maybe that pump was broken. I'll try another one, it'll work, and everything will be fine._ Aria pulled her car into the last pump in the station and got out again. She swiped her card and held her breath. Still declined. Aria put her hands on the sides of her face and leaned against the driver's door. She felt a stress headache coming and it wasn't going to be pretty. Her dad was still at a conference in Philadelphia and her mom just left for a weekend away with Zack.

She reached for her phone and started to dial Emily. Her shift at The Brew didn't start until five, maybe she could at least give her a ride home and she could call a tow service with the emergency family credit card.

"Aria!"

The voice came out of nowhere and before she could react, arms wrapped around her middle and squeezed.

"Malcolm! Hey!" She said in surprise, but hugged him back. "What are you doing here?"

"Ezra and I are going on a camping trip!" He boasted, puffing out his chest. "A _manly_ camping trip."

She had to smile, in spite of her sudden paranoia that Ezra would spot her. "Well gosh, that sounds like a lot of fun!"

"Malcolm?" Ezra peeked around the pump and exhaled with relief. "You can't just run off like that! This is a gas station with cars coming, you could get hurt." Ezra didn't seem to notice Aria standing there with him until he looked up.

"Aria," he breathed. "Hey! What are you doing here?"

"Hey." She smiled politely and crossed her arms against her chest. She looked around awkwardly. "Um, I'm getting gas. Normally I like to just hang around here...you know."

Aria could tell Ezra was kicking himself for asking such an obvious question, and she was sorry she'd been so sarcastic. His eyes fell on the screen which still read _declined_. He looked at her again, now concerned. "Having trouble with the pump?"

It was her turn to be embarrassed. She felt her cheeks redden as she realized what the pump read. "Oh, yeah - these things never work right when I want them to."

Ezra didn't believe her for a moment. He touched Malcolm's shoulders. "Hey buddy, why don't you go back to the car and get started on that bag of gummy worms? I'll be there in just a minute."

"Awesome!" Malcolm exclaimed and raced off to the car.

Ezra watched him go and turned back to Aria. "I got your text."

Aria lowered her eyes to the ground, unable to come up with a response.

"All I've ever wanted was for you to be happy, Aria." He took a step closer to her and Aria stiffened, trying not to show her emotions. She had to do this for him, and for Malcolm. Ezra noticed her body language and it felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. For once he couldn't read her, and that scared him. Maybe she _did_ want to see other people?

He cleared his throat. "Right. Well, let me at least pay for your gas."

Aria shook her head. "No I can -"

Ezra swiped his card before she could stop him. The machine processed through with a beep, then signaled to choose a level of fuel. "Please just give me the piece of mind, I can't leave not knowing if you'll get out of here okay."

Aria relented and nodded. "Thank you."

"Goodbye Aria." He looked into her eyes one more time and felt his heart crumble a bit more.

"Bye Ezra." Aria tried to be brave and smiled softly at him, but she didn't know if that just made it worse. "Have fun on your manly camping trip."

Ezra offered a small smile and nod, then turned and walked back to his car. "I miss Aria. Maybe she can come with us on a camping trip sometime, one that isn't a manly trip." Malcolm searched through the bag of gummy worms and found a green one, then bit into it.

Ezra ruffled his hair gently. "I don't think so, buddy. She's kind of busy."

"Oh. You're always supposed to make time for your friends." Malcolm looked up at Ezra innocently. "Right?"

His heart skipped a beat and he shook off the cloud of sadness that was covering him. "Right. Hey - can you find me a red one? Those are my favorite." He started the car and Malcolm placed a bright red worm into his hand. He smiled at him and put the whole thing in his mouth. "Let's get out of here."

Aria watched them go, finally able to release the breath she didn't realize she was holding. Seeing them in the car together, Ezra smiling, and Malcolm sharing his bag of gummy worms with his father, Aria knew she made the right decision. She knew she had to keep away from them even if it hurt her heart in the process.

She filled her tank and placed the pump back on the lever and hit 'yes' when prompted for a receipt. She'd pay Ezra back when her card issue was sorted out. Aria pulled the paper from the dispenser and felt her skin crawl.

_You can't protect him forever. Kisses, A_

Her eyes scanned the station, but the only people there were two kids sharing a skateboard and an older couple filling up their dirty RV. She climbed back into her car and drove as fast as she could from the station.

* * *

"How did A even get your number? How did they even know which pump you were at?" Emily poured Aria another cup of coffee and Aria took it in thanks.

"How do you even question A at this point?" Aria took a small sip, winced, and added another creamer and a long trail of sugar. "We all know he or she is capable of more than botching me up at a friggen gas station. I think they just wanted to embarrass me. It was A's way of getting back at me for sending that text to Ezra."

Emily frowned. "Wait, what text to Ezra?"

"I really don't want to hear about your sexting with a guy who nearly has orgasms while reading Hamlet." Hanna approached them and took a seat in the booth next to Aria.

Aria rolled her eyes. "It isn't about that. A got me today."

Hanna grew serious. "What happened?"

Emily sat down across from them and put the new empty coffee pot on the table next to them.

Aria picked up the receipt from the table and handed it to Hanna. "Principal Hackett called me down to the office for something. When I was waiting, I just got this vision of them finding out about us and Ezra going to jail. I can't do that to him so I sent him a text that said I wanted to see other people."

Hanna gasped.

Aria ignored it and continued on, "I had to leave the school so I left and started to drive but my car was almost out of gas so I pulled into the station. For some reason my card was declined on every pump I tried. Ezra pulled up to a pump with Malcolm and it was just awkward. He saw the declined thing at the pump so he paid for my gas. That's when that showed up." She nodded her head to the receipt in Hanna's hands.

"That's awful." Hannah breathed.

Emily nodded. "Spencer had a thing with her mom but we can meet tonight and have a girl's night or something."

Aria smiled gratefully and Hannah still seemed to be caught in Aria's story. "I mean getting your card declined? That's terrifying."

"Hanna. Seriously?" Emily said sharply.

Hanna looked at her. "What? I was kidding!"

Aria had to smirk and shake her head. "Thanks Han."

 


End file.
